Ministry of Textiles
Encourage startups and young scientists in the niche areas like Technical Textiles: Union Minister Piyush Goyal
Special fund needs to be created to increase intake of scientists in TRAs, says Shri Goyal
Minister instructs to institutionalize the quarterly engagement of TRAs with the Ministry
Need to Fast Track clearance of patents filed by Government related bodies, says Shri Goyal
Shri Goyal chairs review meeting of Textile Research Associations 
Union Minister of Commerce and Industry, Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution and Textiles, Shri Piyush Goyal said we must encourage startups and young scientists in the niche areas like Technical Textiles. He said this during a review meeting of Textile Research Associations  on 3rd November 2022in New Delhi.
Shri Piyush Goyal asked Textile Research Associations to submit proposals to the Ministry for any support they require to reach world class levelsofrobust state-of-the-art labs, modern machinery, amongst others. The Ministeradded that the Bureau of Indian Standards could provide necessary support in modernizing the labs of TRAs.
In consonance with the vision to foster innovation and drive science-centric sustainable growth, Shri Piyush Goyal suggested to create a special fund to increase the number of scientists in TRAs.
Minister pointed out the need to assess the projects till their last mile success and added that the projects may be sanctioned accordingly to make them commercially viable.He noted that for medical textiles the research is incomplete without the clinical trials. Therefore,costs associated with clinical trials may also be taken into account while recommending future projects in Technical Textiles.
He directed the officials to Fastrack the clearance of patents filed by Government related bodies, in a time bound manner.
Shri Goyal asked to explore the possibilities of merging TRAs or fostering partnership among TRAs engaged in similar kind of research in order to bring synergy among these bodies. He also instructed that the quarterly engagement of TRAs with the Ministry be institutionalized.
The review meeting under the Chairmanship of Union Minister Shri Piyush Goyal was attended by Dr VK Saraswat, Member , NITI Aayog, Prof. Ajay K. Sood, Principal Scientific Adviser  to the Government of India and representative of 8 TRAs , namely, Ahmedabad Textile Industry's Research Association  Ahmedabad, The Bombay Textile Research Association  Mumbai, Man-Made Textiles Research Association  Surat, Northern India Textile Research Association  Ghaziabad, Synthetic & Art Silk Mills Research Association  Mumbai, South India Textile Research Association  Coimbatore,Wool Research Association , Thane, and Indian Jute Industries’ Research Association  Kolkata.
Dr V K Saraswat, Member , NITI Aayog, said that TRAs need to work ontaking their research at commercially viable level and bring the final product to the market. He highlighted that the focus is required on reducing the imports of important products and increase their indigenous production.
Prof Ajay K. Sood, Principal Scientific Adviser  to the Government of India, highlighted the importance of having incubation centers in TRAs.He emphasized on the need to research on HEPA Filters, which has a huge potential in future. He also asked TRAs to identify the products which are mainly imported and urged them to direct their research activities to these products in order to achieve self-sustainability.
During the review meeting, presentations were made by the TRAs, highlighting their performance over the last decade which including their research projects, patents status, machinery and equipment statistics and strategies for future.